fail

i didn't pass FAR. i missed it by one point. one point. now, i've lost the month of may. instead of being outside in the funny, sunny denver fun sun, i'll be inside studying. every weekend.

i take REG a week from friday. let's hope i pass that one. if i don't, there's potentially big trouble.

guy who got a headache and accidentally saves the world

yesterday was a productive day. finally worked out for the first time in like two weeks. it's hard to find time to do that when you're working 14 hour days.

i also finally watched the flaming lips documentary fearless freaks. i highly suggest watching it if you dig the flaming lips or even if you don't. it's a great story and it made me like wayne cohen ever more. and it really made me admire steven drodz. i had an idea of how important he was to the band, but after watching the documentary, it made it abundantly clear the flaming lips are greatly driven by steven's ideas of melody and his musicianship. check it out!

also we finally found a restaurant in town that had some taste. it's a small greek place in a shopping center and it was great. lots of places here in town taste bland to us, i'm not sure if it's because we're from the south and everything there tastes great, especially the international cuisine. but here, most of the food tastes pretty bland. but this place was awesome. if you're in town, we'll take you there. but you'll pay.

is this it?

apparently it's been about ten years since i heard what i still think is one, if not the best, rock and roll record i've ever heard. the strokes is this it was it. it was awesome. i've written about it before, so i'll spare you to hear it again.

well, like i said, it's been ten years. and we're now four albums in. the first one: historic. the second one: great. the third: mostly meh. the fourth: we'll see. it's out next week.

there's a great story on the history of the strokes. check it out here.

go here for the video of under the cover darkness.

go here to stream the album before it's released.

the king of carrot flowers

last night we saw the elephant six orchestra at the larimer lounge. the elephant six orchestra is a hodge-podge of people from the elephant six recording company. neutral milk hotel, apples in stereo and olivia tremor control are the main bands i listen to that are part of the elephant six recording company. i guess i listen to beulah sometimes too. anyway, a lot of those bands don't exist anymore and so some of the characters from those groups are touring as the orchestra. it was a great show. the guy i'm standing with up there is not tim robbins, although he does look like tim robbins. his name is pete and he was a member of olivia tremor control. cool dude. also, i didn't realize it at the time until i saw the picture, but that jacket makes me look huge. i haven't moved to colorado and gained fifty pounds. that is not the case. so we had a good time. seeing shows in denver is pretty sweet. i'm really digging the music scene here. i'm hoping to see phosphorescent at the larimer lounge in april. we'll see how that goes.

"i haven't eaten since later this afternoon"

last night we watched a movie called primer. it very well could be the most brilliant movie i've ever seen. i absolutely beg anyone who reads this to watch it. it was shot on $7K and made in dallas, texas. it is brilliant.

the illustration above is supposed to help the watcher understand how the box works. here is a discussion of people who have seen the film and they comment on what they think happened. i realize i'm a little late to the party, since the movie first appeared in 2004, but better late than never.

it's a jungle out there

rain king

i love change. i almost seek it out. i don't want things to stay the same. if they stay the same, i feel like i'm not advancing. or learning. or improving. every few years, i will probably throw everything back up into the air and see what i catch and what i miss. and what i miss, i obviously don't need anymore because i didn't try to catch it.

one thing i'll always catch is certain people. special people. and to those special people, one in particular who never ceases to surprise me and bring me back to thinking of great times in my life when i was the rain king, i say: thank you.

you are tops. thanks again for the package.

apothecary love

got the new low anthem in the mail today. listening to it right now. i saw them live in houston. one of the best shows i ever saw. they played with blind pilot in a small room with half the people listening. it was great. hopefully they'll roll through denver this year.

phospherescent is coming. so is john vanderslice. i might go see both.

i think tonight we're going to watch the harry nilsson documentary. tonight has potential.

Radiohead - Lotus Flower

give up the ghost

yeppers

morning mr. magpie

i am listening to king of limbs right now.

when i listen to radiohead, i feel like anything is possible. it's a good feeling.

king of limbs

i went to the show last night. totally awesome. the love language were great. i didn't think their sound would translate well to that small of an arena, but they sounded great. the opener was good too. kind a cross between my bloody valentine and the dandy warhols. the second was so terrible i wanted to punch myself in the face repeatedly. so all in all, it was a good night. a late night. totally dragging today.

the hi-dive was pretty sweet. a little dive bar as indicated in the title. i would see a show there again. for sure.

radiohead's new album comes out this saturday. by download only.

the grammys

the grammys are on tonight. i can't help but think of one of my favorite simpson's quotes:

"tonight on wings.....ah, who cares."

libraries

the love language is playing at the hi-dive next wednesday night. i am freakin' out.

i'm actually trying to get home in time to change and go to the hi-dive tonight to check out tennis and the shady babes.

get a haircut

i'm having an internal struggle. i have grown my hair out for three months. and i like the way it looks. but, i have a growing bald spot in the back. and it's not going away. so the longer it gets, the more the bald spot stands out. i never thought i'd be losing my hair at 31. should i shave it? and leave it shaved forever? it's kind of embarrassing to have a full head of hair and a white spot shining through. i'm not sure what i'm going to do. maybe just paint it red. red-ish.

i just listened to the new strokes song. and i'm sorry. but it sucked. that first album of theirs was probably the best album of the 00's. maybe better than yankee hotel foxtrot, which would be number 2. you listen to that first album of theirs now and it's still crisp and full of attitude. pure rock chops right out of the gate. and then it just got worse and worse. kind of like what happened to julian lennon. valotte anyone?

sad and beautiful world

so i'm back from houston. when i left denver, it was snowing and below 20 degrees. my normal commute to work took an hour and a half. i drove 10 miles an hour the whole way there. i had to shovel the driveway twice to get the car out to get to the airport. but, we made it.

i get to houston and i'm sweating very heavily because i'm wearing two pairs of socks, two pairs of pants, three shirts, a jacket and a wool hat. but the sweating didn't last long. it soon got very cold. so cold in fact, there were rolling blackouts across the state. rolling blackouts? hasn't it been this cold before? isn't it hot during the summer? don't we all work our A/C's like crazy in the heat? i didn't understand the rolling blackouts and i wonder what the real story is behind that. remember enron anyone? manipulating energy prices? who knows.

but the cold and blackouts did in fact inhibit my grandmother's funeral. the pipes burst at the funeral home the night before the funeral. we had no toilets, no water. only coffee. but the more coffee i drank, the more i wished the pipes were working. so i stopped. the lights went out ten minutes before the funeral started. so we started the funeral in the dark. it was actually somewhat serene. it was quiet. it was dark. there was only candlelight. it was very peaceful. the lights did come back on though. we didn't go long without them, probably 15 minutes.

the gravesite was brutal. it was freezing cold. and that was it. my grandmother was buried and we left. actually we left before that. my flight back home to denver was one of only three flights from houston that got out to denver that day. flights were cancelled before and after mine. my flight was coming from amsterdam, so they didn't have any problems getting to houston before the freeze. and i have to say, it was pretty funny to watch the city basically stop because it was going to freeze and possibly, not probably, but possibly snow. as i am typing, there is half a foot of snow outside right now. after i took my FAR test today, i drove home in the pouring snow. it was coming down so hard, i couldn't see my lane. but i made it home. and the city kept going. it's what you're used to. and i'm getting used to the snow.

so i'm back in denver after my three day trip to houston. i don't miss houston. i miss the people. but i don't miss the city. i'll probably never move back to texas. i love it. and i'll always cherish it. i'm a texan. i was born a texan. but i'll never move back.

it was a tough january. i won't lie. we lost bear. we lost my grandmother. the strong, tough older women that i've known all my life are finally leaving to join their men. i hope they're all together. i hope they're all in peace.

as far as tomorrow, go packers. my preseason pick. make me a genius.

shu ba du ba loo ba

if anyone would like the opportunity to contribute to the making of what is going to be an awesome record, go here and check it out.

you don't get the opportunity to contribute to the making of an artistic moment very often and i highly suggest getting behind this guy. aside from the fact that he's a stand-up dude, the man's got talent. this is a song from leatherbag's previous album.

someone great, pt. 2

we lost another great woman. my grandmother passed away last night. she was 87 years old. she was a remarkable woman. we will truly miss her.

i had project back in the old radio/tv days that involved finding someone who was around when television was first introduced and interview them, get their feelings on the subject. how did it change your life? how did it change the family structure? that sort of thing. so i interviewed my grandmother. she was so proud to sit and talk to me for hours on the subject. and after we were done, she'd bring it back up again when i'd see her. "remember how we were talking about television...." and she'd tell me something new about the subject. she was very happy to have connected with me on that. and so was i.

i got mine

for the second year in a row, i have amazingly predicted, prior to the start of the season, the nfc super bowl representative. thank you. thank you. i know you are proud of me. but, you cannot be as proud of me as i am of myself. yes, i am amazing. amazing and mentally gifted. those statements are true. and accurate.

although i whiffed on my afc super bowl pick, i did come within two games of being right both years, san diego last year and baltimore this year. well, i hope you enjoyed my greatness as much i did. stay tuned for my predictions in golf, swimming, archery and aerial ballet.

that is all.